Winemaker Notes
The debut vintage of Silver, an effort to unite the crisp mineral essence of classic Chablis style with the tropical elements found in Chardonnay of the Pacific coastline.
Using Chardonnay grown in special blocks of the Mer Soleil Vineyard in the Santa Lucia Highlands of Monterey County, we harvested the grapes when just fully ripe, their gold color hued with green, expressing clean aromas of Chardonnay fruit and firm acidity. Bottled in screwcap to preserve freshness, and unoaked in the style of Chablis.
"Delicious, with pure, rich, concentrated pear, citrus, honeysuckle and spicy apple flavors that are complex and well-focused, with a long, juicy aftertaste. Drink now through 2010."
-Wine Spectator
"I have been waiting for a California winery to produce a big, crisp, mineral-dominated, richly fruity, virgin Chardonnay, and this screw cap-finished effort was worth the wait... Rich and honeyed with plenty of orange oil, lemon zest, and tropical fruit, this crisp Chardonnay should drink well for 1 – 2 years."
-Robert Parker
Professional Ratings
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
The largest and perhaps most varied of California’s wine-growing regions, the Central Coast produces a good majority of the state's wine. This vast California wine district stretches from San Francisco all the way to Santa Barbara along the coast, and reaches inland nearly all the way to the Central Valley.
Encompassing an extremely diverse array of climates, soil types and wine styles, it contains many smaller sub-AVAs, including San Francisco Bay, Monterey, the Santa Cruz Mountains, Paso Robles, Edna Valley, Santa Ynez Valley and Santa Maria Valley.
While the Central Coast California wine region could probably support almost any major grape varietiy, it is famous for a few Central Coast reds and whites. Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel are among the major ones. The Central Coast is home to many of the state's small, artisanal wineries crafting unique, high-quality wines, as well as larger producers also making exceptional wines.